Alaina Cabalu, Special to The Denisonian

Two women attended Kappa Sigma fraternity rush events in late January, despite being ineligible for a bid due to the organization’s national membership guidelines. Claire Anderson ‘28 attended two of the fraternity’s events while her roommate, Elly Kennedy ‘28, attended one.

“I went in support of Claire and that is why I ended up going,” Kennedy said.

Anderson said her personal connections sparked her interest.

“I have a bunch of friends who are in K-Sig and I am a legacy, so I just went in to see what it was like,” she said.

The first event for rush was an open house for potential pledges and current fraternity members to get to know each other on Jan. 23. They came in a little late to the event and saw that some people were playing pool and some were in the living room. As soon as Kennedy and Anderson were spotted by everyone, the whole room went quiet. 

“A few guys came up to talk to us, so it seemed to go back to normal after 30 seconds,” Kennedy said.

Kappa Sigma’s president, Hart Miller ‘28, said that he and other members were taken aback by the women showing up. The officers asked if both Kennedy and Anderson had completed the recruitment forms, which allowed them to participate in the event, and after verification they were granted the ability to participate.

“I wasn’t really sure about the rules of it because I did not want to come off that rush is only for men, because I don’t think that’s true,” Miller said. “The thing about Kappa Sigma is nationally by law, we cannot take a woman, we told her that, and that she has every right to keep coming and showing up.”

During the night, Kennedy explored the house while Anderson started a paper crane competition using paper towels. The competition started after the group played two truths and a lie and one of the truths was knowing how to make a paper crane. 

“I thought this was a speed competition, not how beautiful it was. So I did mine really fast and his was five minutes late, but really beautiful so he won,” Anderson said.

After the event, Anderson called her father revealing that she attended an event by the fraternity he was in. They spoke for the rest of the night about his time in Kappa Sigma.

Two days later, Anderson attended the second rush event, the American Football Conference and National Football Conference watch party. Kennedy did not, as she had other plans, and decided to stop pursuing a bid. 

“I’d say we had a pretty good time,” Miller said.

After the event, Anderson was invited to hang out with some of the brothers and ended up hanging out with Miller and his roommates. This event consisted of playing Minecraft and led to a conversation about what to wear in which dimension in order to prevent death.

“There’s a little bit where I was thinking, ‘dude, am I a “pick me” because I swear I’m being myself,’” Anderson admits.

A ‘pick me’ is slang for a woman, generally young, who performs in a way to gain attention and approval in a male environment, according to Merriam-Webster.

“I know at the end of the day, I’m just being me even if I like boyish things,” she said.

Anderson decided to not attend any more events, accepting that she would not get a bid and would be busy balancing the student-athlete life as the fencing season is year-round. 

“I mean, I kinda knew it wasn’t gonna happen going into it, but if there was any way to get a social bid then I would’ve taken it. But there was a little hope that I would have gotten one,” Anderson said. “I went because these people were similar to the people I hang out with at home and it was kind of nice to go and have that sort of community again here.”

Anderson added, “I think people should absolutely go, not just to K-Sig, but to all of the fraternity events, all of them, visit all of them and if they like you they will take you.”